Santa Fe, NM (Top40 Charts/ Santa Fe Winter Fiesta Official Website) The City of Santa Fe and SantaFe.com ignite the heat for the 2012 Santa Fe Winter Fiesta El Farol Salsa Competition and Showcase, 8 p.m., Feb. 2, at the Santa Fe Farmers Market Pavilion, 1607 Paseo de Peralta. The evening includes a salsa dance competition, music by award-winning Latin music troupe Nosotros, dance lessons, and a variety of food and drink specials, including margaritas and tapas. The event is hosted by El Farol, the oldest bar and restaurant in Santa Fe. States Todd Eric Lovato, SantaFe.com Editor, "El Farol restaurant is a Santa Fe institution, Nosotros is one of New Mexico's most popular bands, and salsa dancing is a Latin dance classic. Evenings in Santa Fe do not get much better than this one."

With nearly 20 years of lighting up New Mexico dance floors under its belt, Nosotros has established itself as the state's premier Latin dance band, seamlessly blending styles as wide as salsa, merengue, cumbia, bachata, jazz and afrobeat. The group formed in Las Cruces, New Mexico in 1994 as a guitar trio, quickly garnering a regional following for its fusion of traditional and contemporary Latin music influences. During this time, Nosotros self-produced two albums, Paloma and Pico, both of which received stellar reviews from music critics. The band then collaborated with percussionist/producer Chris Trujillo (Tom Petty, The Black Crowes, Rod Stewart, Toto, Diana Ross) to produce the group's third album, the eponymous Nosotros. The album earned the group multiple New Mexico MusicIndustry awards and propelling the group into the region's top music venues, including a performance for the State of New Mexico Governor's Inauguration Ball in 2007. The band released it's fourth album, Llena La Alma, in 2011 with Grammy Award-winning engineer Doug Geist.

Now in its second year, the Santa Fe Winter Fiesta is a 10-day celebration of music, food, film and community that begins Jan. 27 and runs through Feb. 5. The event is put on by SantaFe.com and the City of Santa Fe and also features a craft brew festival, a comedy show and a film screening. For more information about the event, visit http://www.santafe.com/winterfiesta.

Co-Sponsors for the 2012 Winter Fiesta are the Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Heineken, The Agave Lounge at the Eldorado Hotel, and Chalmers Capitol Ford Lincoln Mercury. The event is brought in part by the Museum of New Mexico Foundation and by Sierra Santa Fe Buick GMC . Other participating local businesses include Santa Fe Mountain Sports, Five and Dime General Store and La Fonda on the Plaza.

To buy tickets to the featured events of the Santa Fe Winter Fiesta events, visit http://www.santafe.com/winterfiesta.

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